[OB] Goodnight Moon: Storytime

[Willow]

I checked the last few pages in the forum, and I couldn't find anyone mentioning this topic, so now I get to ask it:

So we got an extra story from Hoid story for this book, told to Shallan (and crowd), as well as a remix by Sigzil meant for Kaladin. I don't think this was the 'big story' by Hoid for these books, like Wandersail and Fleet were in the first books, that honor goes to the Girl Who Stood Up. But still, even if this story wasn't meant specifically for Shallan, and instead for the people of Kholinar, I don't think he would tell a story without any specific purpose. Sigzil said his own story was meant to teach Kaladin about responsibility. How does this tie in with the story Hoid told in Kholinar, or did Hoid use the same story to teach a different lesson? And most importantly, did they succeed, if even just a little?

 

 

[shawnhargreaves he/him]

All these stories have multiple meanings, but it seems to me that they all in some way refer to the history of Roshar.

Wandersail -> ancient humans turning away from Odium and toward Honor, and realizing the things they'd been doing in his name (after giving up their passions to Odium) were actually them all along.

Fleet -> death of Honor? And/or breaking of the Heralds?

Girl Who Looked Up -> humans refusing to stay in Shinovar.

Goodnight Moon -> I'm not sure yet :-)  The queen tricked a heavenly being into temporarily changing places, thus gaining access to another heavenly being, getting pregnant, and permanently injecting "moon DNA" into her people as a result.  Is this somehow about the switch of human allegiance from Odium to Honor, and humans taking over spren bonds from the singers?  One night of passion with Honor, bonded some spren, swapped right back to their previous Odious ways (which led to fighting among the Radiant orders and eventually the Recreance) but kept the blue skin aka spren bonding ability?  (tenuous I know but it sorta fits)

Edited November 21, 2017 by shawnhargreaves

[+Wax he/him]

Moons have specific meanings.  The second moon was speculated to refer to Honor.

http://stormlightarchive.wikia.com/wiki/Nomon

 

 

[Willow]

1 hour ago, shawnhargreaves said:

Wandersail -> ancient humans turning away from Odium and toward Honor, and realizing the things they'd been doing in his name (after giving up their passions to Odium) were actually them all along.

I thought this story was a very good parallel of both Dalinar and  Moash's story in this book. You have to take responsibility for your own actions. Dalinar succeeds, Moash doesn't.

1 hour ago, shawnhargreaves said:

One night of passion with Honor, bonded some spren, swapped right back to their previous Odious ways (which led to fighting among the Radiant orders and eventually the Recreance) but kept the blue skin aka spren bonding ability?  (tenuous I know but it sorta fits)

Didn't the Recreance happen because the Knights Radiant were afraid that somehow their surgebinding would destroy Roshar the way it did their old world? And then Honor started raving madly about this subject, and the Knights panicked, I guess.

I found a WoB yesterday that actually says that the blue skin from the Natans comes from the fact that they are human-Aimian hybrids, So I'm not sure it's about the humans' relationship to Honor, but maybe, like the Girl Who Looked Up, and Rock's story about the Unkalaki, about the way humans found a place in Roshar? I'm still trying to work out why Sigzil said it was a story about responsibility.

15 minutes ago, axcellence said:

Moons have specific meanings.  The second moon was speculated to refer to Honor.

I guess the colour does match. But there doesn't seem to be a reference on that site to something in the story or to a WoB, and I don't think that Salas is a reference of Odium, and Mishim of Cultivation. But it's something to think about.

Edited November 21, 2017 by Willow

[echaozh he/him]

People having interaction with the moons who may or may not stand for the gods. Well, could the story be about how the Oathpact actually came into being? Cultivation coming down to pick people to meet with Honor. Then some blue skinned people were born from the meeting. The queen may actually refer to the Heralds? And the Aimians were tasked to watch over the Oathpact? We know they are still watching to this day.

[ccstat he/him]

I interpreted the story (in which the queen appears to be fooled by the trickster moon, but in the end she was the cleverer one) to inspire the people of Kholinar with hope. Something to the effect of, "It may look like you are losing and everything is going wrong, but wait until the end of the story. The side that appears to be the victims may come out on top."

The myth itself indicated a reason for the bluer skin of ethnic Natanatans, which I think is supposed to clue us in as readers to the idea that those people have Siah ancestry (similar to the way Herdazians and Horneaters have singer ancestry).

[Willow]

7 hours ago, ccstat said:

I interpreted the story (in which the queen appears to be fooled by the trickster moon, but in the end she was the cleverer one) to inspire the people of Kholinar with hope. Something to the effect of, "It may look like you are losing and everything is going wrong, but wait until the end of the story. The side that appears to be the victims may come out on top."

The myth itself indicated a reason for the bluer skin of ethnic Natanatans, which I think is supposed to clue us in as readers to the idea that those people have Siah ancestry (similar to the way Herdazians and Horneaters have singer ancestry).

I agree with you on both points, but I also keep wondering why Sigzil said the story he wanted to tell was about responsibility, and if that meant he was going to tell a different story using the same myth, or if he was hoping Kaladin would get something else out of it than the people of Kholinar.. I haven't quite figured it out yet.